In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.
Parallel translations
- WEB In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.
- KJV In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
- NKJV In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity.
- NASB Among you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; among you they have abused her who was unclean in her menstruation.
- NLT Men sleep with their fathers’ wives and force themselves on women who are menstruating.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In Jerusalem men violate their fathers' marriage beds and dishonor women in their uncleanness. Sexual sins flout God's commands of purity and honor.
Overview
These acts break explicit laws against incest and against relations during a woman's impurity (Lev. 18:8, 19). They display contempt for family bonds and for the holiness God required of His people. The verse shows that abandoning God leads to the unraveling of the most intimate human relationships.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 18:19You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.
- Ezek 18:6He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.
- Lev 18:7–8You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.
- Lev 20:11If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- Deut 27:20‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 2 Sam 16:21–22Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
- 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
- Lev 20:18If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.
- Gen 35:22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Deut 27:23‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Gen 49:4Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
- 1 Chr 5:1These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 22:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.